Developing a dynamic model for idea selection during fuzzy front end of innovation

Abstract

Fuzzy Front End (FFE) phase of innovation is a period from the time when an idea is conceived until new product development stage begins. In the proposed model, many ideas are taken into consideration in different discrete time intervals during screening process. Evaluation of ideas are based on iterative intuition decisions made by different teams. The degree of uncertainty, dependency, interdependency among ideas and modularity are the four variables which influence scoring process. A Design Structure Matrix (DSM) is developed to manage dependency relations among ideas during FFE. The model dynamically evaluates ideas in order to select one or a group of ideas at the end of each interval. An objective function uses modularity concept to calculate different portfolio of ideas. A Single idea might be evaluated multiple times, each time with a different uncertainties and interrelationships values during FFE until the best idea is selected for the development phase.